2) Cold
by The Hummingbird Tales
Summary: Cold. It was so cold. The feeling, everything about the experience, sent a chill down Clara's spine. She just wanted it all to stop. (Set before Second Chances, Cold is a story I wrote a while ago. Contains mild gore. Must be read BEFORE Second Chances. Set before Face the Raven. Whouffaldi. Reviews would really cheer me up, thank you!)
1. Chapter 1 - 'Strange Happenings'

Chapter 1

"Still not working?" Clara asked, wandering into the control room with her blanket draped round her shoulders and a tired look on her face.

The Doctor had been up all night, tirelessly trying to fix a problem with the TARDIS' taking-off system.

"No…" He sighed, wiping his brow with his sleeve and laying down a tool of some description.

"Where have we landed, anyhow?" Clara asked.

"I don't know, you'll have to take a look…" The Doctor smiled at her, then nodded toward the door.

Clara slowly and carefully pushed it open and looked out…

Houses. Dark. Night.

It was… a street. A poor street…. In London: Victorian London.

"I think the TARDIS has a thing for Victorian London…" She mumbled.

The Doctor stood beside her and opened the door wider,

"We _do_ seem to be here a lot…" He agreed.

"Hey, maybe we can find Madame Vastra and Jenny…"

"That's a point, maybe they'll let us stop with them for a while. I'd better put the TARDIS on invisibility so no-one attempts to ring the police, though…" The Doctor said, pressing a button on the sonic screwdriver, "Let's go."

They stepped from the TARDIS and took in a breath of fresh air. Ok, maybe not that fresh… they coughed.

"Now, if I'm correct, it's this way…" The Doctor said to himself as he spun around and headed down one of the back alley streets.

Clara followed closely behind.

They headed slowly down the slum streets and passed sleeping paupers lining the alleys.

It was… rather depressing, in Clara's opinion.

As they stepped onto one of the main streets, a black mist flew past them and a muffled scream was heard behind them.

The Doctor turned to his companion,

"We should probably sort that out first…"

"What could it be?" Clara whispered.

"Anything," The Doctor replied, "How should I know?"

"Jack the Ripper?"

"No, that problem was solved a long time ago."

"What happened to him?"

"Vastra ate him."

Clara's face fell,

"Wow," she said, quietly, "I would never have guessed-"

"No you wouldn't, would you, so now come on we need to find _it,_ whatever itis."

And the mist passed them again. It wasn't a mist as much a blur. Definitely something living.

Another muffled scream sounded and The Doctor and Clara were silent.

"This way," the Time Lord whispered, turning left with his companion in tow.

The shadowy blur was quick and they were only just able to keep it within view running from lane to lane.

Soon, unsurprisingly, they lost sight of the blur and stumbled out onto Paternoster lane, where Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax's (A.K.A the Paternoster gang, believe it or not) stately home was set.

As they were catching their breath, little did they know that the shadow was close behind, waiting for a time to strike.

Clara yelped as she felt something cold drive into her back.

Couldn't have been a knife, it wasn't that sharp, but she didn't particularly care, all she cared about was getting her breath back and trying not to choke on air.

The Doctor turned, sharply, to her. He turned backwards and caught a glimpse of the shadow crawling off into the back alley streets again.

Clara fell onto The Doctor and choked on her own breath, the coldness was gone, though, she noticed.

"That was _not_ OK," she gasped.

The Doctor said nothing. He didn't know _exactly_ what was going on but he could guess that whatever it was wasn't coming nicely.

"Inside ASAP," He whispered, leading his companion by the small of her back.

Strax came to the door, a napkin draped over his arm.

"Ah, Doctor," He welcomed, still straight faced, "Just like you to turn up with all these strange goings-on."

"Strange goings-on?" Clara put in, "What do you mean?"

"Surely you've heard of all the deaths?" the Sontaran butler asked.

Both Doctor and companion shook their heads.

Strax said nothing, just opened the door wider and ushered them inside.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Wheel

Chapter 2

"You've heard nothing of the sort?" Madame Vastra repeated.

They were all sitting in the drawing room with tea and biscuits, Vastra sitting at the head of the room with her veil still on.

Clara was almost asleep, the violin and piano music playing in the background like a white noise, the coldness from her completely gone and her head resting on The Doctor's shoulder.

"Nothing," The Doctor replied, taking another biscuit.

"Then why are you here?" Jenny asked, placing the china teapot back onto the coffee table.

"One of the TARDIS' systems isn't functioning. Just so happened that it had decided to land here, must have retraced memories again. It's on invisibility mode so no danger of being discovered," The Doctor explained, "Thought we might aswell stop off with you for a while as the TARDIS tries to recover itself. Anyway, these… deaths… will give me something to do while we wait."  
"Don't you mean 'us'?" Clara asked, suddenly awake again.

The Doctor shook his head at her,

"I think you would be better staying here."

"Why?"

There was silence.

"Stay," The Doctor said eventually, "No further questions."

Clara shrugged this off as something said in the moment, not doubting in the slightest that The Doctor would take her along.

This sureness, however, shouldn't have been, as when she woke the next morning there was a note beside her bed.

Still blurry-eyed, Clara took the paper and read it.

'Thought you might chase after me,' it said, 'So I supposed I'd better set off early. You stay right there, Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax will make sure you do, I've ensured. I'll see you later, when I've solved the mystery of this shadow. –The Doctor'

Clara frowned, half from The Doctor's ignorance but more because of half the page being blurred.

She tried reading again once she was awake and dressed.

' _The cheek of it, though!'_ she thought to herself as Jenny looked over her shoulder to read it, too.

"It is _really_ necessary to follow me around all day, Jenny? Haven't

you got jobs to do?"

"No, Ma'am, The Doctor told me to make sure you don't leave the 'ouse," Jenny replied.

Clara sighed, still tired.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but I can see his reasonin'," The maid continued, "Maybe it's time for a rest? In around ten minutes of bein' out, you was already stabbed."  
"I wasn't stabbed, it was just a feeling, I'm sure," Clara corrected, "Anyway, The Doctor can't manage without me and that's final. Not to be rude, but I think I can manage a bit of Victorian London on my own, I've done a whole Temple full of traps and dangers before."  
"But did you come out unscathed?"

"More or less."  
"'More or less'?"

Clara sighed,

"Why don't you get the point?" She moaned, "What I'm trying to get across it that, for once in his lifetime, The Doctor was wrong."  
"Fine then, Ma'am: I won't follow," Jenny retorted, "But if you go and The Doctor sends you back then don't say I didn't warn you."

Just as she said this, Vastra called for Jenny from the sitting room.

"I'll go," Jenny said, quietly, and left to see to Madame Vastra.

Clara stayed silent as a mouse until the maid was completely out of sight until she crept into the hall and made her way to the door, straight backed and dignified.

As she laid her hand on the door handle, she heard footsteps behind her. She turned around quickly to see Strax. She smiled.

"Where are you off to, boy?" Strax asked, bluntly.

Clara sighed. Strax wasn't the brightest and always thought she was a young lad.

"Right, I've had… enough of… of you lot, telling me I can't

fend for myself. Perfectly capable, I am, travelling in the TARDIS puts you at danger every day, so I don't _care_ if there's been killings, I can… manage. So auf wiedersehen, adios, goodbye and au revoir.'' And without another word, she spun around opened the door and stepped out, shutting it behind her.

' _Well,'_ she thought to herself, ' _Got the words out. Bit muddled up, like, but oh well.'_

She darted round the side of the building and took a breather, never knowing herself to have such attitude. 

She looked round, listened intently and eventually took a turn down a quiet street.

She paused in a dark shadow to take off her bonnet and let her hair loose. Another trick she'd learnt from Jenny was to always wear a cat suit underneath your dress, just in case of emergency running.

' _There,'_ she said to herself, slipping out of the tight corset, ' _Much more comfortable.'_

Now to find The Doctor: her Doctor who had gone off without her… typical.

Now where could he be?

As she was thinking, she saw the shadow of something flash behind her.

She spun around: it was that shadow creature again. Well, wherever that _thing_ was, The Doctor was sure to be close by. She listened closely for anything and, surely enough; there he went, running after the blur, sonic screwdriver in hand.

Clara hid in a shadow and, after The Doctor had passed, slowly crept out and followed him. At a distance. Just to be safe.

Though they were quick, the shadow was even quicker and they eventually lost it.

The Doctor stopped to recover his breath and Clara stepped forward,

"Shame, we lost it…" She said.

The Doctor turned to her,

"Clara? I thought I told you to stay with Vastra and Jenny?"

"Yeah, well I didn't listen," Clara retorted.

The Doctor was silent. Then he smiled,

"That's my girl."

"So what about this shadow, then?" Clara smiled back, an almost smug look on her face, "What do you think it is?"

"Definitely alive. Though I'm not too sure it actually has matter."

"Has what?"  
"Matter. Do you not know anything?"  
Clara ignored this statement,

"So you can walk straight through it?" She asked, "Is that what you mean?"  
"Yes. Now quiet and come on."  
She was about to ask where they were going but decided that it probably _was_ best to stay quiet, as The Doctor had ordered.

They crept down one of London's slum streets and both stayed silent, trying not to make eye contact with any of the poor beggars crowding the alleys.

Clara quickened her pace and closed her eyes, directing herself purely by sound. She had quite a good sense of hearing, and of smell. And the smell of the grimy what-couldn't-really-be-called-streets sickened her.

She was a very compassionate type of person, and hated to see and hear the poverty. She stopped walking, opened her eyes and looked down at the man sat beside her. He was blind, she expected, as he was stretching out his hands, groping.

Clara felt she should help him, but she knew she didn't have the power to do that, or the confidence.

The Doctor called her to him and she hurried along.

When she had caught up with him, The Doctor ushered her to the side.

" _Wait_ …" He whispered.

Clara remained silent,

" _Let the shadow come to_ _ **us**_ …" The Doctor continued, quietly.

Surely enough, the black blur soon passed again, this time slower.

They could make out more of its' features' this time: it wasn't actually there, they noticed. It had nothing to its being, it was nothing but… a shadow… it didn't even stand of its own accord, it was _a shadow,_ on the wall, on the floor. But nothing was casting it. That's what unnerved them. It made no sound, nothing, it had no being, it _shouldn't exist,_ but despite the lack of sense, it existed none the less.

Clara swallowed and it hurt her throat.

" _What do we do, then? Follow it?_ " She whispered.

"Yes," The Doctor replied, flatly.

Clara laughed,

" _I was being sarcast-_ wait, what?"

"We follow it," The Doctor repeated, slowly, "It's all we _can_ do, really," and he stood up straight.

Clara raised an eyebrow,

"Are you _insane_?" She half whispered and half shouted, "We don't know what that thing can do!"

"And we _won't_ do, not until we catch up with it."  
And he dragged her by the arm onto the street.

"Ok, maybe this is pointless-" Clara started, but The Doctor shushed her.

They had been following the 'thing' for at least five minutes and it was getting them no-where.

Until, finally, when it seemed they were better off giving up, the shadow creature took a sudden turn to the right.

"Or… maybe not…"

They started to follow yet again.

It led them down what must have been the darkest street in the city.

They couldn't see a thing. They could have used the sonic screwdriver, but that would have directed the monster's attention to them.

Eventually, they came to somewhere: a trapdoor in the ground. It puzzled them, almost, how a shadow could open something, but the door opened non-the-less and the shadow entered, slinking down the walls.

The Doctor and Clara watched from above and pondered whether to go down after it.

"I think we should," Clara said, as if she read his mind, "What's the worse that could happen?"

"A lot of things: very bad things. We could die… well, you could, I might take a while… but I do agree, we probably _should_ go down after it. What's down _there_ could be the answer to the mysterious deaths."

So they ventured down when the creature was out of sight, down longer than they had expected.

It was pretty difficult getting to the end, too. There wasn't a ladder at all and the only way seemed to be to either fall (which would be stupid, resulting in broken bones) or to slowly clamber down with the aid of some out-of-place bricks.

When they finally _did_ get to the end, they were astounded at the sight that met them… a huge network of underground passages, rooms and corridors lay ahead of the two.

They didn't know where to start, really, but they didn't need to, as they felt something like a cold, dark presence in the room with them: the shadow creatures, they were everywhere, surrounding them, creeping in on them… which they noticed, of course, and tried to stay clear of. They saw now that the shadows were, in fact, the shadows of people.

People, they assumed, who had been killed recently.

The shadows crept all around until the whole wall was almost black with them. Then the creatures did something extraordinary: they started the crawl _off the wall._

" _What are they doing?"_ Clara whisper-shouted.

" _What does it look like they're doing?"_ The Doctor replied.

" _I don't know, but I don't like it."_

Soon the shadow monsters were on top of them. They made a strange sound, a bit like the sound a cat makes before it's sick (which, for your general information, is _not_ a very pleasant sound at all.)

Then they both saw nothing but black.

The Doctor awoke to Clara's desperate shouts of… _panic,_ he thought it sounded like. And Clara wasn't one to panic.

He soon saw why, though, when he realised that the shadow creatures were around her. And when they moved away, Clara fell against the wall. Or she would have, if she hadn't have stopped herself with her elbows. Which The Doctor was glad she did, as he noticed a metal wheel around his companion's neck. It was hard _not_ to notice, actually. The Doctor knew exactly what this was for, and he didn't like it.

It was a type of sleep deprivation device, if you like, for lack of a better word. If you tried to sit, lean or lie down, the spokes on the huge wheel would drive straight through your neck. You could never get into a comfortable position, either, as the wheel would make it highly painful.

"Remember," The Doctor said, "Chin up, shoulders back,"

Clara knew why.

The wheel was painful and she was fighting against the urge to fall unconscious, as she knew very well that doing so would kill her.

The Doctor dodged another shadow coming towards him with a wheel for him. It was then that he realised that he was tied to a chair.

Which wasn't that much of a deal, really, he'd been tied to chairs before and knew exactly how to get out of the situation. As the creature brought down the wheel on him, he swerved and the torture device broke the chair for him.

He stood up swiftly as the shadows built their wall around his companion.

He knew he had no chance of getting to her so he made a quick decision to scarper.

"Don't worry a bit, Clara, I'll be back!" He called as he left.

"…Doctor-" Clara started, but never got to finish.

The shadows weren't happy that The Doctor had gotten away and some started to chase after him.

This gave Clara the opportunity to try and sneak away, or so she thought.

But one of the creatures stopped her and took her by the arm. Another grabbed her other arm and dragged her away…

The Doctor escaped up the hole with the trapdoor with the shadow creatures close behind him. The bricks on the hole leading up to the streets were sticking out quite a lot and so it was relatively easy to clamber up.

He felt slightly guilty of leaving Clara behind, but he knew that there was nothing he could have done.

He didn't really know what to do now. All of the trouble was lurking underground. But he knew he couldn't go back down. Not with all those shadows looking for him.

He turned around for a second and looked around: the creatures appeared to be gone.

He relaxed and headed back to Paternoster Row.

Jenny answered the door. She looked somewhat confused as to why The Doctor was back here… and without Clara…

"Doctor?" she asked, "Where's Clara?"

"She's… um…" The Doctor had forgotten that he had entrusted the Paternoster gang with her well-being, "She's just… hanging about. Um… in… a place."

Jenny raised an eyebrow. The Doctor's excuse was less than convincing.

The maid sighed,

"Come inside, Doctor, and tell me what _really_ happened…"

Clara couldn't see a thing. Nothing.

This was explained when she realised she was blindfolded. The creatures had led her by the arms and she had closed her eyes as they passed the lines and lines of cells crowding the tunnels. There were _loads_ of them, and I mean _loads._

Clara hoped she wasn't going to be locked it one of them, but that was really just putting off the inevitable.

If she had been able to open her eyes she would have seen that she was, indeed, locked up. But where she was wasn't a cell. It had no bars, it was just a room. Made of stone and iron surrounding the door, which had only a small slit for light or sound.

This dawned on her as she tried to move her arm but found chains bound her.

It was like… the white room, if you've ever heard of that. (If not, look it up) But not as white and more grey. Maybe not as bad as the white room, but she doubted she would be fed.

She could go without food, she'd done that before, but water, she assumed, wouldn't be provided. And she couldn't think of anything she could drink instead…

Except, of course, her own tears.

"I knew it," Jenny sighed, "She would have been better off here. She just doesn't listen…"

"She does that…" The Doctor said, expressionless. He was still stood up in the doorway of the room.

'If I sit down,' he'd said, 'I'll want to stay.'

So he stood, ready to quickly run out of the door if needs be.

And it _was_ necessary, in fact. It dawned on him just what he'd done.

"Doctor?" Madame Vastra asked as he turned away, "Where are

you going?"

The Doctor didn't answer at first, just looked at her, then eventually

replied with, "Somewhere," And walked out of the door.

He regretted, now, heading back to Paternoster house, it had given him too much time to think about exactly what he'd done. But he couldn't do much about it now.

Anyway, Clara wasn't first priority at the moment: the shadows were.

He wandered down the streets, waiting for a creature to simply jump out at him.

But nothing.

Oh well, he'd just have to find something else to do to stop them. He didn't know what, though, as the only thing he could _really_ do is go back down to the passages and rooms underground. But he was fed up of passages, really.

' _What are they, though?"_ he thought to himself, _"And what are they doing?"_

Yep, _that_ was first priority. Time for some research…

From listening through the slit in the door, it seemed to Clara that she wasn't going to be kept locked up forever. But something worse awaited her.

She could make out, from the heart wrenching screams that echoed through the halls, that there was somewhere awful waiting for her.

A torture room, she assumed. And she really wasn't looking forward to it.

She wondered what The Doctor was getting up to; probably something interesting, rather than being caged in a boring, empty room with a wheel threatening to sink through your neck at any moment.

"Oh well," she said aloud, "Won't be here forever, whether it be the painful way or the good way, I'll get out… _Maybe_."


	3. Chapter 3 - The Excitement Begins

Chapter 3

The Doctor was slightly stumped. He'd had to resort to asking round the place. Down the slums, he had supposed, they'd know a bit about the deaths.

So that's where he had headed, down the back streets.

It wasn't particularly information about the shadow creatures he needed, but of how to get rid of them. He didn't know, really, why he was asking _humans_. But did the victims of the killings have anything in common? Time to find out…

"Hello," The Doctor said to the scruffy-looking coal worker who had approached him, "What do you want?"

"Help us, good Sir," The man said, "The shadows are coming…"

The Doctor was quiet before he broke his own silence with,

"Why don't _you_ help _me,_ eh?"

One sign of madness, they say, is hearing voices.

After almost 6 hours of staying in the same position and not seeing anything, the only sounds being screams of pain and sadness, Clara wasn't sure whether she was hearing voices or not.

She found she had been locked up quite a lot during her time with The Doctor. She didn't like it. But would she leave him? Nah.

She doubted she would ever have a choice, though, if her Doctor didn't come for her.

"Are these voices in my head," Clara said to herself, "Or are they actually here?"

She couldn't quite reach the blindfold with her bound wrists.

"Hello?" She called out.

No reply.

"Oh well, never mind…" The voices, she guessed, were imaginary.

Another sign of madness, she knew, was talking to yourself…

"Nothing really seems to link them all," The Doctor mused out loud, "They just seem so random."

"What do the creatures need them for, anyway?" The man asked. His name was Jon, The Doctor found out, and he had lost his family to the monsters.

"How should _I_ know?" The Doctor retorted. He didn't want to think

about it, that's what it was. He didn't want to imagine what his friend was going through.

There didn't _need_ to be a link, though. All that mattered was stopping the shadows.

At that moment, a shadow flashed past them for an instant.

The Doctor set after it without delay, sonic screwdriver in hand.

Jon wasn't following; the coward, so The Doctor was alone in his pursuit of the creature.

' _What could destroy a shadow?'_ he thought to himself as he wandered the streets.

He stopped in his tracks, suddenly, and turned around.

What was he doing? That's what he thought. Following the thing wasn't going to do anything. What he had to do was head back down to the passages and the rooms and investigate… and get his companion back. His companion, who was currently trying to distinguish different people by their screams. It was the only form of entertainment that she had down there, however vulgar it might have been.

Though, she was quite enjoying it.

"Goodness…" she thought suddenly, her face falling, "What's happening to me?"

She was right, it wasn't like her to enjoy the screams of innocent people, but this time, even though she knew she shouldn't, just having a sound to keep her awake (and therefore keeping her from dying) was a pleasant experience to her. She suspected, and she was right about it, that she was slowly going insane. She didn't know how long it had been, but it felt like days. Talking to herself seemed a good idea, so she set about finding something good to talk about.

Talking to herself was stupid, she decided, she'd talk to The Doctor instead. Even if he wasn't actually there, she could pretend he was… easily.

"So," She started, "What took you so long?"

Making his way quietly down the hole, The Doctor assessed his options.

One: he could find Clara first.

Two: he could get the Paternoster gang's help.

Or three: he could do this himself.

He felt the best option was number three. He didn't want to risk Clara getting hurt, and she was probably already searching around, anyway, being Clara. He didn't need to worry about her, he thought.

It was getting dark up on the streets anyway, and he could always see down here by the light of his sonic screwdriver.

So he turned around, headed down a passage and set to see what he could find…

By the light of the sonic, he could see rows and rows of… cages. It was like a prison, he thought. Boring.

He strolled casually past a line of them and gazed into a couple. Inside he saw humans chained up to the wall, wheels round their necks and blindfolds over their eyes.

Ok, this was worse than he thought.

The people were all Victorian, of course, some coming from posh houses and some just from the slums, the creatures weren't being choosy.

"Come over here!" One man shouted, angrily, "I'll _rip_ your head off!"

The Doctor stayed away from _him_.

Another called out as he passed their cell,

"No! Stay! Don't go!"

' _Poor guy…'_ The Doctor thought. He was about to scan the lock and let the poor man out, but just then, a shadow crept round the corner and he had to hide. He ducked behind a pile of wheels and closed his eyes.

He shouldn't have closed them, though, as if he'd had them open, he would have seen two people with pitch black eyes, slightly fuzzy round the edges, leading a short, brown-haired girl by the arms. The Doctor would have recognised this girl as his close companion. Or he might have, she looked a slight bit different:

Her hair was a mess, she had a long piece of fabric wrapped around her mouth and another round her eyes. She was wheezing slightly with the weight of the wheel.

She couldn't speak or see, so she didn't even try to fight as the two supposed 'people' led her away…

She was right: there _was_ a torture room down the hall.

They had walked her there and taken off her blindfold so she could see exactly what she would be faced with.

Light streamed into her eyes and she blinked a few times before taking in a sharp breath that almost made her cough.

The sight that met her was not a pleasant one at all. So much so that I don't want to go into details, and neither did she. Straight in front of her, waiting, was a chair: lined with nails.

Her heart raced and she tried with all her might to release herself from the grip of the creatures. They weren't human, she had decided, something seemed wrong about them. But they didn't let her get away, either, as they gripped one side of the wheel each. Clara stopped moving.

If she fidgeted, the spokes would… actually, she didn't want to think about it anymore. At least a chair of nails wouldn't kill her straight away, if she could help it. But she still didn't want to take the weight off her feet; that was obvious. But the creatures tried to make her.

She wouldn't give in. She might have been small, but she could stand up for herself.

Eventually, the creatures stopped pushing and one released his grip from the wheel, walking to stand in front of her.

Then something queer began to happen, a black mist started to envelop the creature and then a familiar looking shadow being started to seep through his eye sockets and mouth and start to crawl through the air towards The Doctor's shocked and disgusted companion.


	4. Chapter 4 - Fire

Chapter 4

The Doctor was watching all this from the doorway. He had opened his eyes and watched the people lead his companion away. He had followed behind from a distance, of course, and was now crouched just out of view of both the creatures and Clara.

He wanted to go in and save her, but something was stopping him. Maybe he wanted to see what would happen next, like someone watching a film in anticipation to see if the hero would defeat the foe. Which wasn't like him at all.

The shadow had crawled out of the human body and was now making that disturbing cat-about-to-throw-up sound that he hated so much.

"Where is it?" The shadow had asked. It was the first time either of them had heard one speak. They spoke like a cat hissing. In fact, The Doctor had decided that the shadows were very catlike in general, both in their mannerisms and their sounds.

"Where is what?" Clara had retorted, malice in her voice.

"It."

"I don't understand, what is 'it'?"

"The threshold."

"Sorry, _what?_ "

"The portal," The creature behind her spoke up, still holding onto the wheel around her neck.

"The way to our leader."

Clara sighed. She wasn't sure what they meant by this vague sentence, but she assumed that Victorian London (and probably Earth as a whole) was not the home planet of these things. She never thought it would be, but if they were here, they would have had to come through something: a portal in this instance.

It intrigued her as to why they would ask _her._ Why didn't they know how to get back home and what did they come to Earth _for?_

She snapped out of this thought when the creatures ordered,

"So do you know?"

"No," Clara replied, straight faced. It was true.

The shadow growled.

The creature behind Clara released his hold and for a split second, letting her turn around.

She saw him pick up a brick and bring his arm back to bowl it at

her.

She ducked just in time and the creature still in the human body picked up another brick.

The room had a pool in it, Clara noticed, and for some reason she felt inclined to head towards it, seeing as it was the only thing not next to something that could slowly kill her if she touched.

She dodged the next block, too, and soon was standing in front of the water. There were a few carcasses in there, which wasn't pleasant, as she wondered whether it was a water trench for the drowning of helpless victims. She was probably right.

She stepped as close as she could to the pool and adjusted the wheel around her neck, holding on to it so it wouldn't slip out of place.

The Doctor was still glued in place, though, waiting, watching as more bricks, and now glass bottles, were hurled in his companion's general direction, two at a time.

She had managed with great skill, so far, do duck out of the way of each one of them. She couldn't keep this up forever, though, and soon, with two stones hurtling toward her at a slightly alarming rate from both sides, avoiding one she was hit about the head by the other.

The bottle shattered and The Doctor's companion fell backwards into the water, knocked out by the force of the blow.

"Clara!" The Doctor called, finally piping up.

Both of the creatures turned to him.

Great, now he had their attention turned away from his companion.

The Doctor put on his sonic glasses and quickly scanned the shadow. He listened to the glasses buzzing,

'Unidentifiable," He translated from the dull buzz.

This was slightly worrying.

Anyway, best not to linger any longer when his friend was at the possibility of drowning.

The last shadow started to crawl out of its body and the other shadow and it both drifted through the air toward The Doctor.

He didn't have time to think, so he just did whatever seemed sensible and darted toward the pool of water to attempt to retrieve his companion.

Which he did, dragging her out of the water and supporting her so she could stand. She was unconscious still; the water had been freezing cold.

The Doctor took Clara by her waist, taking care not to knock the wheel about her neck, and held to her whilst edging away from the shadows. Suddenly, an unrelated thought struck him: where was the light coming from? There was no natural sunlight, but it was still bright enough to see. He looked about to see a torch hung up on the wall. He took it from its holster with his spare hand and waved it in the shadows' general direction.

"Hah!" He said, as if he had just won an argument that had been going on for a tremendously long time, "You don't like _that,_ do you?"

The shadows stopped moving and started to back away, afraid.

"Source of light, I see! Fire can't cast a shadow… is that what it is? The light destroys you?" He asked, a slightly smug look on his face.

Clara coughed and The Doctor turned to her, taking his eyes off the creatures for once,

"You alright?" He asked her.

Clara looked at him with a mix of confusion and disgust on her face. She wriggled out of his grip and ducked as he tried to hold his hand out to her. She dropped herself to the floor and scrambled backwards if The Doctor made any steps towards her.

"Do I know you, old man?" Clara asked, repulsion in her voice.

"Clara?" The Doctor asked, slightly shocked, "Have you seriously forgotten me?"

Of course, the blow to her head must have been harder than he first thought, must be temporary amnesia. He'd better go easy on her.

Clara shook her head, raising her eyebrows at him; she didn't even remember her own name.

"You have amnesia, you should be alright later, now you have to trust me and… get up, please," The Doctor said, gently.

His companion did as she was told, but still refused to let him hold her hand.

"Och, you're being like me…" The Doctor had said, under his breath, turning back to the creatures, "How much _do_ you remember?" He asked, at last.

"Just the cell," Clara had replied, "Then being led here. Nothing else."

The Doctor didn't react at first, just waved the torch again and watched the shadows get progressively more incensed.

"So," Clara said, strangely and suddenly serene, "What are we supposed to be doing?"

"Well, first priority: get _you_ safe."

"I've forgotten _who you are,_ not _how to survive,_ I'm perfectly fine on my own, you just figure out some sort if plan, if that's what you do, and leave me fine, it'll all be hunky dory."

The Doctor scowled at her,

"You stay here, I'll be back soon," and he thrust the torch in her direction.

Clara plucked it, almost impatiently, from his hand and held it firmly in hers.

The Doctor darted past her and the shadows chased after him, now that he didn't have any light, and Clara was left standing alone, soaking wet in a room full of torture devices.

She watched him leave, then aimlessly began to wander round the room, practicing thrusting the torch at shadows that weren't actually there, like a cat chasing an invisible bird.

The Doctor poked his head up from the hole onto the streets of London. It was midnight. He pondered whether to fetch Jenny, Vastra and Strax or not.

He eventually decided that that would be a sane decision and scrambled up to hurry to Paternoster Lane.

He knocked on the door to their stately house and waited for an answer. When he got none, he sonic- soniced? Sonicd? (Did that thing with the sonic screwdriver to open the door) and entered.

The lights were all off and so he took an oil lamp from the table in the hall and lit it.

He stayed silent.

Madame Vastra was probably upstairs, figuring some random thing out with the use of a good old-fashioned blackboard. Jenny was most likely with her… and Strax was doubtless scrutinizing his collection of grenades. The three hardly ever slept, unlike his companion who he liked to call 'Frequently Unconscious Clara' … without her knowing, of course.

Humans required an unnecessary amount of sleep, in his opinion.

Snapping out of this train of thought, he wandered upstairs, closing the door behind him, oil lamp in hand.

The stairs creaked with every step he took.

When he reached the hallway at the top of the staircase, he heard a familiar voice,

"Ah, hello, Doctor," It said. The Doctor recognised it as the familiar voice of the lizard-woman from the dawn of time that he knew commonly as 'Vastra'.

"Found much?" The Silurian continued.

"Well…" The Doctor replied, wandering into the room, "Not really, apart from something about a portal…" and he paused for a second.

"Portal?" Jenny piped up.

The Doctor nodded, looking across at her,

"But, good news is, they _can_ be destroyed, with light or fire or such like. Makes sense, they _are_ shadows, after all."

"And where's the girl, did you find her?" Vastra asked.

"If you mean Clara, then yes, I did find her. She's fine, in case you were wondering," The Doctor said, raising his voice slightly. That wasn't _quite_ a lie.

"Oh? Then where might she be now?"

"Sorting something out," The Doctor replied, turning away, "In a place. I came to get some help with something. I need you to lend me a hand in planning an operation

"An operation?" Strax repeated, suddenly standing in the doorway, "Will you be needing any grenades, sir?"

"Not quite," The Doctor mused aloud, a slight grin on his face, "Think more along the lines of… massive underground inferno…"

The old man hadn't told her to _do_ anything, so Clara didn't really see a need to. She had light, she was protected, that was all she needed, in her opinion.

She strolled out of the room and into the hall. She smiled, knowing she was safe with the light of the torch.

She looked into each of the cells in turn. She knew exactly how the prisoners felt, and her face fell, but without a key, there wasn't much she could do.

She put her left hand onto the rim of the wheel around her neck. She couldn't remember the shadows ever putting it on… she could remember hardly anything, in fact. She knew nothing anymore of the outside world; her only memories were of the prison and the shadows. That thought sent a shiver down her spine and brought tears to her eyes; it was too overwhelming for her, seeing all the hurt and the insanity, even though she knew she had been through just the same.

She blinked once and the tears fell.

Her hand shook with nerves and she slowly, quietly slunk round the halls. The shadows stayed well clear of her, of course, and she eventually started to get bored. She couldn't do anything about the creatures if they wouldn't come near her, could she?

She had a fire burning in her stomach and she knew exactly how to extinguish it…


	5. Chapter 5 - Jack

Chapter 5

The troupe of rather strange friends, a Time Lord, a Silurian, a Sontaran and the Human girl, walked through the streets of Victorian London, each holding something to aid the mission.

"Did you get the lamp, Jenny?" The Doctor checked.

"Yes, Sir," Jenny Flint replied.

"I have the grenades, sir," Strax said.

The Doctor turned round on his heels,

"I told you not to bring grenades!" He glowered.

"Yes you did," The Sontaran argued, "You said 'and bring those grenades, they're necessary.'"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow.

"Might have said alcohol," Strax corrected himself.

The Doctor sighed and turned around. The alcohol was for making the fire spread, not for drinking, of course.

"Shouldn't we fetch the girl?" Madame Vastra interposed.

"She has a name, and no, we shouldn't," The Doctor snapped.

"Somethin's wrong, isn't it, Doctor?" Jenny said.

The Doctor was silent,

"Yes," he didn't want to lie, "It's a long story…"  
"I'm listenin'."

"…One that I'm not willing to tell at the moment," And he sighed, "Just follow me and be quiet."

"Live life on the edge, I do," Clara said to herself, calmly. She had hung up the torch and was making her way through the halls in darkness. "What to do, what to do..?" She mused aloud.

"Hello?" The man in the cage behind her called.

"What is it?"

"Who are you?"

Clara turned to look at him to see that he had a blindfold wrapped round his eyes and was in the same state as she was before.

"Good question," Clara laughed, then frowned and was still, "Wish I could answer it, but I can't, unfortunately."

"Whoever you are, please, let me go."

"Wish I could, mate," She smiled, "But I don't have the key," and she turned away, smirking slightly from the corner of her mouth, "You're doomed, by the way."

The man listened to her leaving, not sure what to think, and then the next thing he knew, the cell door was being opened. He breathed a sigh of relief as his chains were released.

He heard that hissing and his face fell.

" _No… you can't! Please! Don't kill me!"_

The words echoed through the halls, eerily, to meet Clara's ears.

" _Well, I warned you, didn't I?"_ She whispered. Somehow, she felt no empathy. She was oblivious to the fact that she usually would.

She shrugged off the screams that soon died down and diverted herself by watching a shadow lurk, resting on the walls. When it crawled off the wall, she found herself peculiarly serene.

"So," she began, "Take me to your 'leader'"

"Aren't you gonna' find Clara first, Doctor?" Jenny suggested again as The Doctor set down the last of the fire powder.

He turned to her, brusquely,

"…Maybe…" He said, huskily, "Don't know if she's still alive, though, or where she is, it's a big place, down here, it'd take ages to find her."

"But she's your frien-"  
"Shush," And he turned back to the powder, then held his hand out for the lamp Jenny was holding and for the matches in her other hand, which Jenny hesitantly gave him and which The Doctor lit with the lamp and gently set on the powder, which ignited without delay.

The Doctor threw the matches onto the fire and dusted off his hands.

"Do you not care about her anymore?" Madame Vastra asked, spitefully, "She _is_ your responsibility, you realize?"

The Doctor plucked the liquor bottle from Strax's hand and took the top off with a bottle-opener he always kept in his pocket.

"I know, I'll see to her soon," he said with annoyance.

He was about to pour the alcohol onto the fire when Jenny grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"Find her, Doctor," she ordered, "She's still alive, I know she is. You go find her. We'll be right 'ere."

The Doctor pulled his arm away and scowled at her,

"What if I don't want you to see her?"

"She's injured, I know she is, and you know she brought it on 'erself. That don't mean she don't matter no more, you know that, now stop being heartless and go get 'er."

The Doctor sighed, heavily and thrust the bottle into Jenny's hand.

"Stay here, don't do anything without me," he ordered, before swivelling on his heels and turning away.

The shadow leader was a strange being. Clara wasn't even sure if he was Human- no, she _knew_ he wasn't Human. No Human could have those eyes, those red, staring, cat-like eyes.

"I've a feeling your name's 'Jack'… Nice name, rings a bell…"

she couldn't quite out a finger on it, but she was certain that she had heard of someone with that name before.

She had: Spring Heeled Jack: an old Victorian urban legend. But she couldn't remember that, of course.

"Not much of a conversationalist, huh?" Clara sighed, "Shame, I could do with someone to talk to… there was this old man, you see, he seemed to understand me. In fact, he seemed to know more about me than I do, which doesn't make sense really, considering-"

"Hush."

"Oh, you _do_ talk!? Wonderful!"

"Be quiet or I'll rip your face off!"

"Oh, you seem lovely(!) Remind me to invite you for tea one day, if I can remember where I live…" Clara laughed, sarcastically.

Spring Heeled Jack growled and pinned her up against the wall.

"Ok, let's turn it down a notch there. No need for bloodshed!" Clara attempted her best confident face.

The creature brought his claws down over her cheek, leaving scars, and pushed her – ever so slightly – further to the wall so the wheel was touching it. Not enough to kill her, but unnerving her nonetheless.

"Now, now, maybe we can come to an agreement…" she laughed, nervously.

Jack faded away then and left Clara free to look about.

"Guess so?" She said, surprised, running a hand over the scars on her face (somehow, her fingers fit neatly over them like she'd made them herself)…

She peered round the doorway, gasped, staggered backwards and ran a hand through her hair.

Through the halls glared an unruly fire.

Clara felt an icy hand on her shoulder, which jerked her backwards

and spun her around to face it.

"You again? Listen, I don't have any time for your games, Jack, I have business to attend to," she frowned, swiping a hand through the creature's body and watching it fade and then re-form itself.

Clara attempted to pull away from it and skidded on her heels trying to turn to the conflagration roaring behind of her.

But the strange being was stronger than she had expected, and tugged her to the wall, pinning her up again.

Clara wheezed out a breath and choked the smoke from her lungs.

She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, Spring

Heeled Jack was gone.

She swayed forward and gradually regained her footing. Something about this whole thing didn't feel real.

She wandered to the doorway and listened to the screams of the burning people. She saw shadows creep into the bodies of the humans, trying fruitlessly to save themselves.

Clara felt no real emotion at this, only felt an air of nausea. A very definite wave of nausea.

She gave a long sigh, and narrowed her eyes, hadn't the old man told her he would be back? Instead of coming for her, he had left her to breathe her last with the rest of them. Oh well, she thought she was as good as dead anyway.

She folded her arms and frowned.

"Guess he doesn't really care for his friend after all…"

"Clara! Clara?" She heard, echoing through the corridors.

She looked up, sharply and let in a short gasp of air before snapping to her wits and looking about for the source of the voice, which sounded distinctly Scottish…

She darted in the vague direction that she thought it was coming from and soon saw The Doctor standing, calling for her.

He looked like he was worried, but was trying to hide it.

"Looking for someone?" Clara asked, folding her arms and trying without fail to look nonchalant.

"Clara?" The Doctor hummed, spinning around to face her.

"What took you so long? Thought you'd left me to kick the bucket with all the others…"

"Trust me, I'd never do that, now come to me and I'll get you out of this place."  
"Not until you've explained what's going down, old man," Clara rejoined.

"The time you have left to live," The Doctor snapped, "Come on!"

Clara shrugged.

She kicked the ground a bit,

"Not much of an explanation…" she hummed.

The Doctor looked exasperated, loosing his patience with her.

"Just come, already, Clara! I'm not leaving you behind, and that's final."  
"I never said you were," Clara smiled, "But you're not saving _me,_ are you? You're saving _her._ I'll have to remember to thank you for that…"

And she strolled along the scrap of floor that wasn't blazing.

The Doctor held her hand tight as she tried to pull away.

"Don't think of it as hand-holding," The Doctor sighed, "Think of it as protective measures against explosions and alien shadows."

Clara sniggered.

"Now come on!" The Doctor smiled, pulling her along.


	6. Chapter 6 - Shadow

Chapter 6

They stood, looking down into the hole leading to the twisting complex of channels and cells that was now a scorching firestorm.

"What was that for?" Clara asked, after a considerably long silence.

The Doctor turned to gaze down at her,

"The shadows can be destroyed by fire, so I set fire to them. Nothing more."

"But they… they didn't have to die… they were just lost, said something about a portal, didn't they? They were lost, I think, and you just… you killed them!"

"Ah," The Doctor gasped, "About that… I forgot. And yes, I _may_ have just destroyed all chances of them ever getting home."  
"How could you..? That's disgusting!"

" _But,_ and it's a bit but, there _may_ be a few more shadows and there may be some way we can still find the portal and lead them back home."

"You mean, you didn't destroy all of them?"  
"Well, there's always that chance…"

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Maybe should have planned this out…" The Doctor sighed.

"Yeah, that would have been good…" Clara agreed, kicking at the ground.

They both looked around.

They had been searching for ages and to no avail, not a portal or a shadow in sight.

"May I offer an idea?" Clara asked.

"What?"

"Could they be from an alternate universe, slowly leaking into our world? Just a thought that came to me, sounds mad, I know…"

The Doctor looked at her, surprised – maybe, impressed – absolutely.

"Haven't lost your intelligence, I see?" He grinned, "That's a good idea, you know!" And he grasped her hand again, dragging her along.

"Where are we going?" Clara asked, confused.

"The TARDIS."

"The what?"

"Ah, yes, you'll have forgotten that, too, won't you. Not to worry, the TARDIS is my time machine. In fact, you could say it's my home, too. And yours… it's on invisibility mode at the moment though, so- oof!"

He stopped in his tracks, looking as if he had just slammed into something.

"I think we found it…"

The Doctor pressed a button on the sonic glasses and the TARDIS slowly materialised.

"It's a box," Clara said, unimpressed.

The Doctor thought it best to let her stay outside. Forgetting everything, then being revealed to the word and having an alien take you along to his space/time machine that was, in fact, invisible, then finding out if was bigger on the inside _might_ be a smidgen too much for one day.

He entered the TARDIS and hopped out a moment later before Clara had the chance to wander off.

Sonic screwdriver in hand, he turned the time machine back onto invisibility mode.

"Try not to use this thing too much anymore," he said, twirling the screwdriver between his fingers, "But I can make an exception to that. Now, you alright?"

Clara blinked, slowly, at him before smiling softly,

"Yeah, I'm OK."  
"Good, let's go!"

"What _is_ that thing?" Clara asked, astonished.

She and The Doctor had used the sonic screwdriver to lock onto alien signals drifting through the air, traced it and eventually pinned it down to an old abandoned house on a misty old street.

A few sparks had been flying out of the wall when they entered, then the signals from the sonic went insane and subsequently stopped.

The Doctor had uncovered a flap where the sparks were coming from.

When opened, it revealed a glistening red combustion. It lit up the dark room.

The Doctor shaded his eyes,

"Seems to be the infamous 'portal' all the creatures keep nattering on about…"

"Shall we go through?" Clara whispered.

The Doctor stuck his hand into the red, flickering _thing._

It seemed to suck at his hand and began to drag him in.

He grasped Clara's hand with his other hand and she was drawn in, too…

"Clara?" Was the first thing she heard when she woke, "Are you OK?"

Clara opened her eyes, gradually. She had squeezed her eyes shut when they had entered through the thing, and now her legs were weak and shaking.

"Yeah," she replied, softly, "I'm good."

The Doctor patted her back, gently,

"Good."

He looked around: shadows everywhere.

They flocked about the duo as they had done before, whispering things, eerie things.

'Master…'

'We have another…'

'Take them…'

'Take…'

'Must…'

'Live…'

' _So cold_ …'

And then everything was silent.

Then the noise slowly returned, the cat sounds.

Vision slowly returned.

Around them was dirt, falling off the walls, off the ceiling (it was a high ceiling, too) and a single shadow sat in the centre of the room, larger than any of the others, presumably their leader.

It hissed, not out of its mouth like a cat, but like a deflating balloon.

"Our leader is dying…" The Doctor heard a shadow murmur.

"So what?"  
"Save her."  
"Oh, it's a 'she', is it? Lovely."

"Save her."  
"How do you mean?"  
"You know how I mean. Sacrifice."

"Myself?"

"Certainly."

"Don't even think about it, old man," Clara piped up.

"My name," The Doctor demanded.

"I think I'll just call you 'sir'," Clara said.

"Whatever you like," The Doctor replied, sighing and spun back round to the shadow, "And why would I give myself to save your 'leader', what would happen to me?"  
"You would _die._ "  
"Lovely. And if I don't?"

"You would _die._ "

"Wonderful lot, you are. Think I'll go for option two, myself."

The shadows began to crawl round him again.

"No, don't! Stop!" Clara blurted out, then clapped a hand over her mouth. What had made her say that?

Strangely, the wisps listened to her and released the Time Lord.

"I'll do it," Clara choked, "I'll… save her."

She couldn't control what she said, a feeling just struck her, as if she must save this 'sir'.

"What do I do?" Clara asked, clearing her throat.

"Clara, I'm warning you-"  
"Close your mouth, Sir, I'm saving your days here, give me some respect."

"Clara-"  
"I'm not her. Not anymore, at least… _she_ might have listened to you, but you have to let me make my own decisions now, Sir."

Clara stepped forward to the apparent leader shadow.

'She' turned to her and two glistening red eyes snapped open to glower at her. Cold eyes.

She slithered toward her, stuck her face in Clara's and made that hissing sound she detested so much.

It crawled into her mouth, between her teeth and down her throat.

The Doctor was glued in place, unmoving.

Partly, he was thankful that she had saved him, but also fairly upset at her ignorance.

He turned to look at Clara… actually, no; it wasn't her anymore, was it?

"Hello, my name's Shadow…"

'She' said, opening her eyes, which were crimson on the iris, the kind of eyes the rest of the shadows had.

"Is she dead now, then?" The Doctor asked, accepting his friend's fate.

"Not yet," Shadow said, inspecting herself, "I'm slowly sapping her life from her, she can still see and hear everything, but she can't speak. When her eyes turn completely red, then she'll die and she won't come back. I will have life again and then I'll discard the body and move on. Bid your 'friend' goodbye."

The Doctor scowled,

"We'll just see about that," he snapped.

"She's been stupid," Shadow sighed, "But I appreciate it."  
And she turned to her army of wisps (that's what we'll call them now, so as not to be confusing) and grinned, manically,

"Destroy this man," she commanded.

Cold.

So cold.

That's what it had been like: cold… and exceedingly nauseating.

Clara sighed, but no sound came out of her mouth.

Shadow spoke,

"Hello, Clara, feeling alright?"

"…I'm fine, I suppose…" Clara murmured.

"Oh? You're OK? What a shame…" Shadow replied, teasingly.

She was standing alone in that same room.

Clara could hear Shadow speak, and to Shadow, Clara was just that voice in the back of her mind.

Shadow rolled up her torn sleeves and looked around the room for something.

"What are you looking for?" Clara asked. She found that all she had to do was think to speak. After all, she _was_ only a voice in her own head.

"Ah, here it is!" Shadow smiled, picking up a hand file and wiping it on her corset.

"What are you going to do with that?" Clara queried, cautiously, almost dreading the answer.

"Nothing bad," Shadow replied, and it sounded truthful. It wasn't a lie, as she began filing away at the wheel around her neck, "Then we can get rid of this thing."

She finished filing through one of the wheel spokes and soon started on the next one.

She began to wander in circles round the room, humming as she did, still filing away.

"What are you going to do with me?" Clara asked.

"Being very inquisitive today," Shadow replied, not _quite_ answering her question.

"I said-"  
"You already know."  
"I…"

Shadow brushed a lump of dirt from the wall to reveal a shiny, reflective surface. Aluminium, it looked like, but not quite.

Clara could see just about see her scarred reflection, mirrored on the metal surface.

"…Look at me…" she murmured.

"I'm looking," Shadow replied, flatly.

" _You_ did that to me…" Clara whispered.

"Not _me_ exclusively. I'm not _entirely_ responsible for what my children do."  
"Your… children?" Clara echoed.

"The other wisps… if I die, they die. You're dim-witted: you're saving me, and saving them, consequently," Shadow laughed, "You do realise what you've done, right?"

"…Look at me…" was all Clara could say, "…Broken…"  
Shadow stayed silent, then smiled,

"Get used to it, OK?"

A strange feeling surged through Clara's mind. Something flashed into her mind for a millisecond and then disappeared, like she remembered something but then forgot it again.

"Sir will come for me," she said, eventually.

"He's not coming back," Shadow said, a grim smirk on her face, gazing at her reflection one last time before turning away, "He knows you're doomed, and he doesn't want to go to the bother of rescuing you."

"That's not true."  
"It is. He doesn't care. Admit it, you know it."

"Liar…"  
Shadow turned away and finished filing through the last wheel spoke, then slipped it off.

"Better," she said, simply.

Clara breathed deeply and thought solely about The Doctor… or 'Sir'.

There was that flash of memory again…

It seemed to her as if she was recovering from her temporary memory loss. But she just shrugged it off.

The Doctor frowned. The wisps had dumped him in the middle of

Paternoster row. It was almost as if they knew he was familiar with that street.

He purposely avoided going into Paternoster House.

He knew he had to get his companion back… his foolish companion who ever so thoughtlessly sacrificed herself to save what they were trying to destroy.

The wisps weren't what they initially supposed them to be. They weren't from another universe, slowly leaking into another time stream, they weren't innocent people… they were… monsters.

The Doctor knew his friend only gave herself to save _him,_ not the shadow, but he was still rather incensed towards her.

Still, he could forgive her when he got her back.

 _If_ he could manage to get her back.

He didn't know how exactly he could accomplish that, seeing as he couldn't set fire to the leader of the wisps, that would scar Clara… more scarred than she was already, anyway…

He didn't want to hurt her, but he needed to get rid of the shadow… how could that be possible?

Suddenly, he had an idea…

…an idea that would require the use of major inducement.

Memories steadily flowed back into Clara's mind.

Though she'd rather they didn't.

She had witnessed death, suffering and torture, sometimes only created by her own mind, based from sound echoing down the hall.

She tried, desperately, to calm herself but each time she tried to shut her eyes, she found she couldn't and all the revulsion seeped back to her… images of sheer terror that had left her with a palpable sense of trepidation.

"Feeling alright?" Shadow asked, out of the blue, breaking the heavy silence.

"Fine…" Clara spat.

Shadow smirked, an evil smile.

"I hope you die in a fire!" Clara retorted.

"Now, now, no call for that," Shadow replied, almost agitatedly, it seemed like to Clara.

"I always hoped I'd never be the foe…" Clara sighed, "But I am… aren't I?"

At that moment, they both heard a tremendous BANG and Clara's name being called.

"It's him, isn't it?" Clara asked, optimistically, hoping that Shadow would turn around to see where the voice came from.

"I should think so…" Shadow spat, hatefully.

"Take a message."

"So," Shadow started, hitting the hand file on the palm of her hand as though it were a club, "He comes back, does he?"

"Give her back," The Doctor commanded, strictly, "Now."

Shadow laughed,

"Why…" She sniggered, a wicked smirk upon her face, "…Would I do that?"

"Because of me," The Doctor said, expressionless, gesturing to himself.

"What?" Shadow asked, raising an eyebrow, "You? What's so special about _you,_ huh?"

The Doctor noticed then that her eyes were almost red, the colour seeping out of her irises like blood.

"The last Time Lord in existence," The Doctor said, "You might have heard of me… does the name 'Doctor' ring a bell?"

Shadow's eyes widened,

" _You…"_ She echoed.

"That's the chap," The Doctor smiled, "Two hearts, Time Lord brain, which is thoroughly overpowered, if I do say so myself. Think of the things you could do with a _Time Lord_ body, eh, Shadow? You could run the world."

Shadow looked as if she was considering this option.  
"Think of the possibilities…" The Doctor pushed further, "What do you say, Shadow? Leave Clara alone and take me."  
Shadow was silent for a while, pondering.

After a bit, she smiled,

"My pleasure."


	7. Chapter 7 - The End

Chapter 7

The Doctor was actually quite surprised at the amount of pain that struck him when Shadow crawled down his throat: it was chilly, glacial like ice.

Oh well, he wouldn't have to put up with it for long. It was irritating, though, not being able to control his own body. Now he knew how his companion felt… his companion, who was currently passed out on the floor. It was a good job she didn't still have that wheel on.

The Doctor's plan started to take action within a few seconds.

He knew that the mind of a Time Lord was too overwhelming for any other life form (one of his former companions, Donna Noble, had learnt that the hard way…) and Shadow soon realised that, too…

She shouted – in The Doctor's voice, of course – and panicked.

"Yeah, you see?" The Doctor smiled… or, would have smiled, if he had have been in control of his face.

Shadow's wisp army gathered around, looking on in confusion.

Shadow tried to escape from The Doctor but, in her pain, she couldn't bring herself to do it.

The Doctor felt almost sorry for her, but remembering what she had carried out – all those evil doings, the torture room and the prison, and other things – brought him back to reality.

Now Shadow would pay for all she had done. The pain she'd caused. Nobody hurts Clara and gets away with it.

The crushing pain that hit her was slowly killing her, too much information, too many memories, all wasted away at her mind.

At the time it took for her to crawl slowly back out of The Doctor's mouth, she was as good as dead already.

Her wispy form lay on the grubby floor and slowly started to grow fainter,

The Doctor snapped back into consciousness and glared down at Shadow,

"Any last words?" He asked, spitefully.

"Never," Shadow spat back, turning to her army, "Don't worry, children" she soothed them, "I won't die…" But this was a lie, as she then faded away from reality.

Clara's eyes flickered open and she looked up at The Doctor, then turned to the wisp army.

They were fading.

One by one.

Weeping, weakly, as they did.

The Doctor held a hand out to help Clara up, the red from her eyes dripping, steadily, down her cheek.

"Sir? You…" Clara whispered, weakly, "…Came for me…"

The Doctor nodded and Clara stood up just as the last wisp washed out.

"It's over, then?"

"Yes," The Doctor replied, "All over."  
Clara buried her face in The Doctor's arms, and he – sighing – put a gentle arm around her waist, still not liking the 'hiding your face' thing, but giving in to her.

"Thank you, Doctor."

THE END


End file.
